Turbine rotor wheel



:une 10 1924.

1,497,666 V. KAPLAN TURBINE Ro'roR WHBEL Filed March 14, 1923 SupportingV ring of Fig. 1, showing o'ne blade v Iz'atentedV June 10, 1924.

UNITED rSTATE S VICTOR KAI'LAN, BR'UNN, CZECHOSLOVAI.

TUR-BIKE ROTOR WHEEL.

Application flled March 14, 1923. Serial Nie. 625,087.

To all wlwm it 'may co'rwem:

Be it known that I, Vwroa KAPLAN, citizen of Czechoslovakia, residing at Brunn in the county of Moravia and State of Czechoslovala, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Turbine 'Rotor Wheels, of which the following is a speci'4 fication. This invention relates to the regulation of the impeller blades of rotor Wheels of waterturbines and turbine punips and consists in the provision of means for facilitating the angular adjustment of the blades while the I wheel is running.

In all regulating devices the function of which is to turn the impeller blades during the operation to adjust them for variations in the water sup ly, the'drawback'is felt that the blades, cause of the blade-load caused by the water-pressure, can be turned only by great forces. The regulating rods required thereby can be arranged therefore only with difliculty in the regulating hub. Also, the automatic re ilators must be built for lar e regulating orces, which involves a consi erable increase in the expense of the entire turbine.

These defects can bev avoi'ded if, in accordance with the invention, at least-a portion of the resistances otherwise occurring as gliding frictionv is converted into rolling friction. To this end, there isv provided a supporting ring surrounding the regulating hub, which ring receii/es a port-ion at least of the supporting forces and by the turning of which the otherwise liding friction is converted into rolling friction, as shallv be more fully explained 'in connection with the accornpanying drawing, in which,

Fig.-1 is ,a sectional view of a rotor wheel hub equipped with my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the stem only. 1

The object of my invention is attained by the provision, in the hub Z of the rotor wheel, of a relatively rotatable supporting ring 'r', moun'ted in an annular groove or re-` cess in the hub and 'presenting a bearing surfacemI` which contacts with the larger periphery of the 'stems 8 of the blades S and coacts-therewith in the. manner of a. friction gear, so that, when the blades are angularly adjusted, which is accomplished by'any well known means, not shown,'the friction of the blade stems is no longer a Vsliding friction on a 4relatively fixed hub surface, but is 'convertcd into a rolling friction on the ring surface, the ring rotating horizontally about the hub a-xis and being carried on ball bearings K, if desired. The coacting surfaces 'n of the ring and blade stem are shown as conical, constituting, in effect, a pair of meshing friction bevel gears, but' these coacting surfaces may \be cylindrical, if' desired.

. The water-pressure acting on the blade indicated by the arrow P, causes forces of reaction on the' bearing surfaces 'n of which forces the force acting at the lowest oint of contact of said surfaces is indicate by the arrow R' Since the bladesare symmetric'ally arranged relative to the axis of the rotor wheel a simple analysis of'the forces will show, that the horizontal components H and R mutually balance each other and the Vertical components V represent a load on the y imparts t'o the supporting ring r a turning moment. The same is also true of the other blades, so that the supportmg ring will simultaneously rotate -'with all the blades. In Fig. 2 is indicated by the arrow 1 the direction of rotationof the ring when the blades open-and by the arrow 2 the direction when' the blades close. AHowever, since the 'rolling friction to be overcome is omdy a fraction of the otherwise caused gli ing. friction, the regulatingforce required for the turnin of the blades is considera'bly decreased, t e rincipal resistance 'to be overcome being t at caused by the friction of'th'e trunnion axis z of the blade.

If the conical bearing surfaces ofthe supporting ring' and blade stems are'replaced by cylindrical bearing surfaces, sliding friction at the line of' contact can not be with symmetrica'lly arranged blades, these` forces 'are theoretically completely supported in the supporting ring. e to unpreventable errors in construction a perfect loo balance of ressure in thesupporting ring cannot be o tained, for which reason a simple journallino' of the same in the regulating hub is advisale. This journalling can, of course, be still improved by the use of ball or roller bearings.

Claims:

1. Rotor wheel for tnrbines and the like, compi'ising a hub, a supporting ring rotatably journaleditherein, and biades pivotaliy mounted in said hub for angular adjustinent. said blades a'nd ring having abutting surfaces whereby said ring receives a portion of the load on said blades and fazcilitutes the adjustment of the latter.

2. Rotor wheel for turbines and the like, comprising a hub, a supporting ring rotatably journaled therein blades adjustably carried by Said hub ami having surfaces in engagement with said ring, and roller bearing'sV between said ring and hub.

In testim'ony whereot' I aflix my sigmature.

VICTOR KAPLAN. 

